Icicle Creek originates on the crest of the Cascade Mountains in the Alpine Peaks Wilderness Area and then carves its way through a spectacular granite canyon before joining with the Wenatchee River. Icicle Canyon is widely known to hikers as the eastern gateway to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and receives thousands of visitors annually.

Unfortunately, the area's beauty almost proved to be its downfall. Private landowners had begun to sell off 20-acre home sites in the late 1980s. Road building, logging, home construction and septic tanks threatened the area. Western Rivers Conservancy reacted by purchasing eleven different properties totaling 874 acres along nine miles of Icicle Creek. The lands were conveyed to the Wenatchee National Forest in 1992, and Icicle Canyon is now protected and managed as part of the Alpine Lakes Area.

Back to previous page